Reading the 'Boom' (345-0-1)
Instructors
Lucille Kerr
847/467-6698
3-131 Crowe
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-430: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
This course will focus on the Latin American "Boom"--the literary, cultural, and commercial phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s that internationalized Latin American literature. The Boom inaugurated what some critics called a "revolutionary writing" that not only challenged literary practices from the first half of the 20th century, but also generated a parallel boom of critical writing about Latin American literature and writers. Through critical essays, documentary films, and autobiographical accounts, we will consider the historical, political, literary, and personal factors that contributed to the Boom phenomenon, the ways in which it was viewed and represented at the time and in subsequent decades, and its role within Latin American literary and cultural history. Primary materials will include Carlos Fuentes's La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962) and Manuel Puig's Boquitas pintadas (1969), which represent different phases of the Boom and also trends in the "new" narrative, and José Donoso's Historia personal del boom (1972; 1983), which presents a Boom author's behind-the-scenes version of literary events and personal relationships during the 1960s-1970s. Secondary materials will include essays by other Boom writers, filmed interviews with authors, and feature-length films (one a thematic and technical source for La muerte de Artemio Cruz and the other an adaptation of Boquitas pintadas). IN working with these materials, we will both explore the characteristics of Boom novels and develop further an ability to read and analyze literary texts in their own terms and within a variety of contexts. Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0
Registration Requirements
1 course chosen from 250, 251, 260, 261.
Learning Objectives
This course is in the Foundational Discipline-Literature and Arts category. As such, throughout this course, students will:
Observe the forms, genres, and styles of literary and artistic expression in Latin American narrative fiction of the second half of the twentieth century through the practices of close reading and literary analysis.
Gain an awareness of the social, political, cultural, and historical factors influencing artistic expression in post-war Latin America, the relations between the artist and the public, and the potential of creative art to challenge or to affirm social and cultural norms. This will include an examination of the Boom's significance within Latin American literary history as well as some of the polemics that circulated around it.
Gain an appreciation for the ways in which literature and the arts reveal the differences and diversity, as well as the continuity and unity, of human cultures. Key topics in this category will include the circulation and commercialization of Latin American literary texts, the treatment of histories (literary and political), and questions of national and regional identity formation.
Through class participation and writing assignments, students will produce persuasive interpretation, analysis, and commentary on literature and art, both spoken and written.
Students will develop their writing skills in Spanish and sharpen their powers of interpretation, critique, and aesthetic perception. This will involve summarizing, close reading, contextualizing and synthesizing analyses of course texts in written assignments and exams.
This course also satisfies the Global Overlay requirement. During the quarter, students will engage with scholarship on some of the processes that have shaped literary and artistic production in contemporary Latin American countries; through this analysis, they will generate the knowledge and develop the skills necessary to grapple with key issues, including translation, imitation, identity, circulation, commercialization, nationality, diversity, cultural reception, resistance, and human rights
Class Materials (Required)
José Donoso, Historia personal del ‘boom' (1972; 2nd ed 1983) -- will be available on Canvas
Carlos Fuentes, La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962) / Required edition: Cátedra: Letras Hispánicas / ISBN 8437613930
Manuel Puig, Boquitas pintadas (1969) / Required edition: Seix Barra/Biblioteca Breve / ISBN 950731430X -- OR Debolsillo / ISBN 978-9685957649
Secondary materials will be available on Canvas
Class Notes
No P/NP
Primary readings in Spanish; secondary readings in Spanish and in English; discussion in Spanish
Couse may be counted as one of the required 300-level courses for the Spanish minor
Course may be counted as one of the required 300-level courses or as an elective for the Spanish major.
Course may be counted as one of the required courses for the CompLit major (see CLS advisor)
Course may be counted for the LACS minor (see LACS advisor)
Course may be counted as one of the courses required for an outside concentration for Journalism (see Medill advisor)
Course may be counted as an Area VI required course
Course might satisfy the Overlay requirement (see advisor)
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0